


A Budding Romance

by whythefujamievenonthis



Category: Holby City
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 18:25:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13576359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whythefujamievenonthis/pseuds/whythefujamievenonthis
Summary: A lil AU story line!An extremely over worked and tired Dominic Copeland meets happy go lucky florist Lofty Chiltern, will it just be a passing moment or will it bloom into something much greater?





	A Budding Romance

“What are you up to today mister?” Asked Zosia as she and Dom walked down the street, the pair were on their way to work at Holby Hospital, Dom looking slightly more fed up than usual.

 

“Surgeries, eating, and more surgeries. Oh, did I mention surgeries?”

 

“I think you did.” Grinned Zosia.

 

The pair had known each other for years, they were best friends, yet only one of them was in a healthy relationship. Zosia had been dating Ollie for quite some time, hell, they were practically engaged minus the fact neither had popped the question to the other. Zosia was walking, talking and eating her breakfast at the same time, and Dom was half focused on drinking his coffee until is was abruptly knocked out of his hand:

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry sir!” Exclaimed the shopkeeper, they’d been sweeping the front of the building and they weren’t aware of their surroundings so abruptly knocked Dom.

 

“It’s fine…” Sighed Dom as he watched the shopkeeper fumble about with his apology.

 

“I should’ve been looking where I was going, god I’m such an idiot.”

 

“It’s honestly fine Mr…” Began Dom, but he soon realised he didn’t know the worker’s name.

 

“Ben, but everyone calls me Lofty - long story.”

 

“Right, Lofty, it’s alright it was just an accident.”

 

It was only after he said this that Dom noticed what type of shop Lofty owned - a flower shop, it was exploding with colour and brightness and a natural glow of ‘happy’. It looked as if every flower imaginable was for sale; bouquets and bunches could be seen half finished through the glass of the building. It seemed as if he had too many flowers since he kept so many outside for display.

 

“Wow….” Exhaled Zosia as she took in the sight too.

 

“They’re beautiful, right?” Smiled Lofty, “It took me a while but I opened up here a few months back, business is amazing round here.”

 

“You don’t get many flowers in Holby,” Reasoned Dom, “You don’t get any _nice_ flowers here anyway.”

 

“Well I’m glad you two seem to like them!” As soon as he finished his sentence an idea popped into Lofty’s mind, “Would you two wait here? Just for a few seconds? I need to grab something for the pair of you.”

 

“Well we really need to get to-” Tried Dom.

 

“We’d be glad to wait!” Cut in Zosia, seizing the opportunity for Dom to not be single anymore.

 

Lofty disappeared for a few moments, the sound of shuffling and moving of boxes could be heard just behind the massive display, after a while he reappeared with two small bunches of flowers in his hand.

 

“It’s not much, I know, but I thought you’d like some flowers?”

 

“Aww that’s so sweet! Isn’t it Dom?”

 

“The sweetest…” Replied Dom in a half sarcastic tone.

 

“For you Miss, some Alstroemeria - also called the Lily of the Incas, they’re a flower of friendship.”

 

“They’re also stunning.” Thanked Zosia as she carefully took the flowers from Lofty and began smelling them, “Thank you!”

 

“And for you sir, some blue Hydrangeas.” He said happily as he passed them to Dom, “A symbol of being sorry, and apologies - which is something I owe you after knocking your coffee out your hand.”

 

Dom chuckled a little, “Well, thank you very much, they're stunning.”

 

“I don’t think I got either of your names.” Commented Lofty, relieved his attempt to make amends had been accepted.

 

“I’m Zosia.” Replied Zosia happily.

 

“And I’m Dominic, but everyone calls me Dom.”

 

“Nice name.” Complimented Lofty, before realising he was getting a head of himself, “Wait, I mean you both have nice names! It’s just Dom is a nice one too and-”

 

“Don’t worry about it.” Chuckled Zosia.

 

After that Dom silently made it ritual to get to work via that street, Zosia occasionally tagged along (but was usually given lifts to work by Ollie); each morning Lofty would greet him alongside a new grip full of stunning flowers to put in a vase at work. Each time he gave Dom flowers, Lofty would describe their names and meanings in detail, and the young florist was thankful to see it interested Dom as much as it did him. As the weeks turned into months, Lofty’s flowers blossomed into actual feelings (as ridiculous as that sounded in his head). He couldn’t figure out what it was about Dom that made his heart race so much, but there was definitely _something_ there… Little did he know that the same applied to Dom: as the months went by and he received more flowers Dom unwittingly fell more and more in love with Lofty; maybe it was the curly hair or the stunning flowers, or the fact he was simply a nice person, but Dom knew what was in his heart was more than just a platonic feeling.

 

Dom grew happier and bubblier in the workplace, practically slipping everywhere he went, and smiling from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat whenever he saw his daily flowers from Lofty sat in the base he’d set up at the Nurse’s desk.

 

He felt his heart break when he saw Lofty’s shop had closed for winter.

 

It felt lonely, knowing Lofty wouldn’t be there to give him flowers like he had done for the past three and a half months, and he quickly returned to the moody and slightly soured Dominic that he once was. Sacha noticed, Essie noticed, hell - the whole of Keller had noticed, but Dom didn’t care; he was too grumpy to explain himself. His mood did, however, brighten one day at the arrival of a gift just for him:

 

“Flowers for Dominic Copeland?” Asked the delivery man as he walked onto the ward. Dominic looked up from his work at the desk and saw the deliverer with a small bunch of flowers in his hand. Dominic stood up, his heart elated as signed for the flowers and took them from the man before taking them with him back to the desk. He sat himself down again and read the card attached to them, ecstatic and drunk with joy:

 

_“Dom! Hi, it’s Lofty._

 

_Zosia told me where you work together, and I didn’t want to stop giving you flowers. I’m away in America for flower stuff that’d take too long to explain, I'll be back for spring, in the meantime I want you to figure out what this bouquet means._

 

_But you can’t use your phone or computer! Good luck!”_

 

Dom grinned like a Cheshire cat as he looked at the bouquet: the arrangement consisted of blues, purples, yellows and whites - Dom, despite his interest, had no idea what any of the flowers were or what they meant. _He’s certainly given me a challenge_ Dom thought to himself as Sacha made his way over.

 

“Oh, secret admirer?” He asked, grinning.

 

“Probably not, it’s a puzzle more than anything I think. I don’t know what any of these flowers are though...”

 

“Well if you need help, those blue ones,” Began Sasha, pointing and indicating to the delicately small blue flowers dotted around the bouquet, “they're called Forget-Me-Nots.”

 

“Oh I’ve heard of them! Thanks Sacha.”

 

“No problem, see you later in surgery.” Smiled the jolly and loud shirted man before walking away.

 

It had already been a couple of months since Lofty had left for his winter travels in November, it was now early January and Dom (only able to guess) presumed he had till the beginning of March to figure out the flowers - he had even less time since the flowers would eventually wilt, and needed them as references when looking through information. Weeks went by, no more bouquets from Lofty arrived, no letters that included hints for Dom in his challenge, in fact he received no letters at all! But Dom persevered, going to libraries and other flower shops to find out more about his flowers, which was a struggle given his lack of free time. Eventually he managed to compile a list of the flowers and their names:

 

  * The blue flowers were Forget-Me-Nots.



 

  * The purple ones were in fact called Blue Violets.



 

  * The white roses were Gardenias and Jasmines - the Gardenias resembled Roses and were one of Dom’s favourite from the bouquet.



 

  * The yellow flowers were (aptly) named Yellow Acacias.



 

All that was left to do now was figure what they meant, but by the time he’d began to do so the flowers had long wilted (despite his best efforts to keep them alive) and all he had left was the photos he’d taken of them the day they first arrived. With only his photos and names he set of to the nearest library, his heart set on completing the challenge Lofty had given him. In all this time neither spoke, but both secretly knew they had a thousand words they wanted to say to each other. After a long shift at work, Dom dragged himself to the library (having searched practically all the little bookshops in Holby) and set to work finding as many books on flowers as he possibly could, he spent at least an hour grabbing as many books on flowers as he could physically manage; he then sat there for at least another hour trying to skim his way through them - and eventually he managed to make some ground on it all:

 

Forget-Me-Nots meant love.

 

Dom couldn’t ignore his heart skipping a beat. There was no denying it; it definitely skipped a beat and then fluttered for a few seconds.

 

Jasmines meant love too.

 

His heart pounding, this information only drove Dom to look faster through the mountain of books he had beside him, working away till it was quite late into the night. By the end of it all, he’d finally complied a list of all the flowers and their meanings.

 

  1. Forget-Me-Nots and Jasmine's meant love.



 

  1.  Blue Violets meant trustworthiness.



 

And finally, the final fact that confirmed it all:

 

  1. Gardenias and Yellow Acacias represented a secret love.



 

With that Dom jumped out of his chair, put the books back where he’d found them and rushed out of the Library as fast as he would without looking like a maniac. He wanted to rush home and tell Zosia what he’d found out, he wanted to tell her in person, and then he wanted to tell Lofty.  He wanted Lofty. February 13th and Dominic Copeland could finally (and proudly say) he was in love.

 

The next day was Valentine's Day, Spring wasn’t really back yet so he wasn’t all that surprised to see Lofty’s shop was still closed for business, but it didn’t mean he was any less sad about it. He arrived at work and promptly got on with his day, going to and fro between all his patients and the operation room. Having found out what the flowers meant his mood was significantly better than  it had been, so Sacha and Essie were quite relieved to see him laughing and smiling thought the day. At Lunch however, his smile only got bigger at the arrival of another gift:

 

“Delivery for Doctor Copeland.” The delivery man muttered, fed up by all the stairs he’d travelled up (the elevator was full when he arrived). In his hands was a stunning bouquet of red roses, a proper bouquet, not just a small bunch of flowers like last time. Dom rushed over and took the flowers from him and signed for them, his grin was the size of a dinner plate and he felt his heart skip a beat and flutter all over again.

 

“Aww how romantic! Someone's smitten with you.” Grinned Essie as she followed and joined Dom at the Nurses station. Dom sat himself down with the flowers and looked at them in all their stunning glory: every petal seemed perfect; their colours was deep and red and like fine wine. He almost didn’t realise what Sacha noticed:

 

“Shouldn’t there be twelve roses?”

 

Dom looked in the bouquet and realised Sacha was right, there was eleven roses - an unusual uneven number of flowers for a bouquet.

 

“Maybe the card will explain…” Offered Dom as he took the card that was nestled between the flowers and opened it.

 

“ _Hi Dom! It’s Lofty._

 

_Seems as though one is missing…_

 

_Try and find it?”_

 

Dom’s heart gave a little leap, surely this meant Lofty was back? He showed Sacha the card like a teen in need of approval from his dad; and Sacha grinned cheekily as he read it.

 

“Mmhmm, Lofty? Odd name; seems nice though.”

 

“I really like him, I think.” Admitted Dom.

 

“Well then, you best go find him.” Smiled Sacha as he handed the card back to Lofty.

 

“But I have work-"

 

“I’m sure a sudden bout of abdominal pain is enough to explain your absence if anyone asks. Worst case scenario you're off work for the rest of the day because of it.”

 

“You're okay with lying for me?”

 

“After Isaac, you deserve to be happy, and you deserve that more than I need a doctor on ward. Just let me know if I need to find an agency Doctor later.”

 

“Thank you Sacha!” Replied Dom before practically leaping out of his chair and making a mad dash to the main entrance - he didn’t want to waste time getting changed out of his scrubs. As soon as he made his way out of the hospital he went into a full sprint, dodging pedestrians that went past him, barely avoiding lamp posts that stood regimental in his path, running to the point his felt his legs hurt only to keep on running - excitement rushed through him like adrenaline. He knew his way to the flower shop like the back of his hand: every turn and pathway and red light and zebra crossing etched into his mind, he’d walked past the shop plenty of times (even when Lofty wasn’t there) to probably be able to get there with his eyes closed. As he rounded the corner that lead to the street where Lofty’s shop sat, his heart swelled to see blooms and plantation sat outside on display.

 

He was back.

 

The display wasn’t quite finished yet, there were patchy areas were Lofty hadn’t had the chance to put any flowers down, but it was still beautiful. The colour combinations and mixes all complimented each other beautifully. Dom didn’t disguise the massive smile on his face.

 

“Lofty?” He called, taking a half step towards the shop. Suddenly, like a Jack-In-A-Box, Lofty appeared from behind the display, petals and leaves stuck in the curls of his hair, he saw Dom and grinned his usual grin as he made his way out of the flowers.

 

“Dom! It’s been so long.”

 

“The flowers, I figured them out.” Smiled Dom.

 

“I hoped you would, it’d be a bit awkward if you hadn’t. Well it might be a bit awkward anyway, I hope you don’t mind that I have-”

 

But his words were cut off by a quick kiss from Dom, not enough to be passionate, but just enough to leave Lofty spell bound and mute.

 

“I also got the roses, just then.” Dom continued, blush rushing to his cheeks, “They’re stunning.”

 

“R-Right, right! The roses, one sec…” Fumbled Lofty before walking back behind the display, moments later he reappeared with a single rose in his hand, “You came to complete the bouquet?”

 

“I did indeed.” Smiled Dom, taking the rose from Lofty’s hand, he was happy to see Lofty had removed its thorns so Dom didn’t pick his finger, “Thank you.”

 

There was a brief silence as each tried to find the right words to say, eventually Dom concocted a sentence; “I was told I could stay off, but I’d rather not miss work - plus I’m still in my scrubs.” he said, indicating to his unicoloured uniform.

 

“You suit the colour red.” Smirked Lofty.

 

Dom chuckled a little before continuing, “But I finish work reasonably early today, if I were to meet you here at 6pm, would you like to... go out?”

 

“Or I could meet you at the hospital, there’s a pub called Albie’s near there.”

 

“You know Albie’s?”

 

“I love Albie’s!” Exclaimed Lofty, “I go there when I can.”

 

“Well then, Albie’s it is. Meet me at the main entrance?”

 

“Sounds like a plan.” Agreed Lofty.

  
“And you can tell me all about your travels, we can get to know each other better, and take things slow?”

 

Lofty looked at Dom for a long while, “I look forward to it.”

 

“Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any AU prompts, or just prompts in general, that you'd want me to write from let me know! <3
> 
> If you liked the story, any comments or kudos or shares would be a great help!


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